Tom Cooper

Director

Tom directs theatre, musical theatre and opera. As a staff director he has worked for the Young Vic Theatre, English National Opera, the Haymarket Basingstoke, Scottish Opera, and extensively for Opera North. Tom was a reader for the Bush Theatre and the Royal Court Young Writers Programme and read musical libretti for the Donmar Warehouse, and was Literary Associate (musical theatre) for the Finborough Theatre, London. His recent directing includes Gianni Schicchi (Opera Bohemia, Scottish tour); La Boheme (Clyde Opera); La Traviata (Heritage Opera, touring); the European premiere of Adam Guettel’s Myths and Hymns (Finborough Theatre, London); the first ever revival of N. C. Hunter’s play A Day by the Sea (also Finborough Theatre, London); Henry IV parts one and two (York Shakespeare Project); the devised L’Antologia di Spoon River and Stefano Benni’s play Astaroth (Rapallo Festival, Italy); Judith (Pleasance Theatre, London); Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me (Upstairs at the Gatehouse).

He has also adapted and directed Brecht’s The Visions of Simone Machard (Hackney Empire and tour) and Euripides The Trojan Women (Edinburgh Festival Fringe). Drama school directing include A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Oxford School of Drama at Blenheim Palace); Fuente Ovejuna (Arts University Bournemouth); Little Women: the musical and Howard Goodall’s musical Girlfriends (University of Cumbria); The Wedding Singer (SLP College). He is currently Programme Leader for the BA Musical Theatre at GAMTA (Glasgow and Cardiff). For GAMTA he has directed The World Goes Round, Sunshine on Leith, A New Brain, Flora the Red Menace, 9 to 5, Wonderland, Oklahoma, Just So, and two devised musicals, Doors: the Great Exam Cabaret and A Fistful of Glitter (based on the music of Pink).